5 Do’s and Don’ts for Lean and Six Projects

Posted on September 20, 2010 by Rutgers IMED

by Al Leigh, Master Black Belt and Rutgers Adjunct Professor

Anyone who has led a Lean Six Sigma project, or any continuous improvement project, has experienced highs and lows. Here are some DOs and DON”Ts for Projects.

1. DO set a measurable goal for your project. How else will you know when it is done?
2. DO work on projects that are important to your sponsor AND the process owner.
3. DO manage the scope of your project so that it can be completed in 2-3 months. Large drawn-out projects have a higher failure-rate.
4. DO use sound change-management techniques to help the organization embrace the improvements you and your team are bringing to the area.
5. DO communicate-communicate-communicate. Communicate to your team, to your sponsors, to your process owner, and to the organization. Communicate progress, issues, successes, etc.

1. DON’T expect the project to go smoothly. There will be time issues for you and team, unexpected obstacles, and perhaps resistance. Just like riding a bike, 2/3’s of the time you and your team will be going uphill.
2. DON’T try to do it all yourself. Your team will be instrumental in helping you implement the improvements. And sustain the results. Use them.
3. DON”T expand the scope in the middle of the project. Stick to the original scope for now, and start a second project to pick up the proposed extra work.
4. DON’T use every tool in your tool kit. Use the simple graphical tools like fishbone and pareto and mapping. Save the statistical stuff for when it’s really needed.
5. DON’T expect everyone to embrace your new-and-improved solution. Change is scary and you will need to use your leadership and change management skills to influence the organization.

You can probably think of others. What key DO’s and DON’Ts would you include?

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Lean Six Sigma – On the Comeback Trail

Posted on September 20, 2010 by Rutgers IMED

by Al Leigh, Master Black Belt and Rutgers Adjunct Instructor

A recent article in Business Week On-Line (1) talks about the comeback of Six Sigma.  It cites companies as well-known and diverse as Merck, Cadbury, Dunkin’ Brands (of doughnut fame), and Pfizer, are using Six Sigma to drive continuous improvement and help their bottom line.  Wait!  Aren’t these mostly manufacturing companies, and isn’t that what Six Sigma is aimed at?

Well other companies have signed-on as well.  Starbucks is using Lean Six Sigma to reduce costs and improve service, Capital One had started their Six Sigma journey, and even a law firm in Chicago is using Lean Six Sigma techniques.  These are not your traditional manufacturing companies.  Companies are turning to Lean Six Sigma to reduce waste, eliminate defects, and streamline all parts of their operations, their transactional processes, supply chains, R&D, and even HR.

How can Lean Six Sigma be applicable to these very diverse businesses and functions?  With a very flexible architecture, Lean Six Sigma is aimed at helping an organization find the problems that are creating extra cost and waste.  Then Lean Six Sigma provides them with a methodology that guides their improvement processes.  Finally, Lean Six Sigma helps the organization manage the change management issues so that the improvements are sustained.

But there are doubters and critics of Six Sigma.  They argue that a data driven process is just too slow, or won’t apply to their problems.  At Rutgers, we have discovered ways to turbo-charge your Lean Six Sigma process and projects.  This includes rapid project identification, selection of the critical-few tools that are appropriate for your project, and change management techniques to help the organization hold the gain.  In addition, we employ a unique Project Startup Checklist to insure that projects are setup for success.  The successes have included emergency response preparation for a public company, streamlined appointment process at a pediatric clinic, improvements in complaint processes and service truck preparedness at a public utility, reduced patient wait time in a major hospital’s emergency room, and, yes, process improvements in manufacturing companies.  The common characteristic of all these projects is that they were well-chartered, they had empowered team leaders and team members, the teams used facts and data to design their improvement strategy, and they were accomplished quickly using the optimum improvement tools.

My name is Al Leigh.  I am a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and a member of the Continuing Education Team for the Rutgers’ Institute of Management and Executive Development.  Let me know if there is a topic you would like to know more about.  Contact me at a.leigh@dceo.rutgers.edu.

For more information on how Lean Six Sigma can help you,  contact Jonathan Lane – jonlane@camden.rutgers.edu or visit us at sixsigma.rutgers.edu .

1.     Six Sigma Makes a Comeback;  Brian Burns and Emily Thorton
Business Week On-Line, September 10, 2009

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Updated Murphy’s Laws (as related to Lean and Six Sigma)

Posted on September 20, 2010 by Rutgers IMED

by Al Leigh, Master Black Belt and Rutgers Adjunct Instructor

The internet is a wonderful thing! You can find information on most anything…including Murphy’s Laws. You recall the original Murphy’s Law, right?
“If anything can go wrong, it will.” It was named after Captain Edward Murphy, an engineer working on an Air Force project.

So, with respect to Captain Murphy and all his proponents, here are some extensions and corollaries of Murphy’s Law that we can relate to our Lean & Six Sigma journey:

Team Meetings:
“A meeting is an event where minutes are kept and hours are lost”.
Lesson: The savvy Green Belt or Black Belt always comes into a meeting with an agenda and a time limit. The meeting begins and ends on time. The team will love you for this.

On Process Mapping:
“Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure, temperature, volume, humidity, and other variables, the process will do as it darn well pleases”
Lesson: Take the time to understand the ‘real’ process you are trying to improve. If there 20 different opinions on what is really happening, there is no real process. Just a collection of practices. It’s time for some standardization !!

On Data Analysis:
“Always draw the curve you want, then plot the data.”
Lesson: Please, I don’t have to comment on how wrong this is, do I? Use data and facts for good, always. Not to manipulate the system.

On Improved Solutions:
“New processes generate new problems.”
“If you can’t understand it, it’s intuitively obvious.”
“The primary function of the Black Belt(or Green Belt) is to make things difficult for the people actually running the process.”
“A failure will not appear until after final inspection.”
Lesson: a) Always, always do a risk assessment. Figure out before-hand what might go wrong. b) Always run a pilot. It’s easier to upgrade a solution on a small-scale than to discover items overlooked on a global scale. c) Always listen to the people who actually run the process for improvement ideas.

On Lean Thinking:
“Empty what is full. Fill what is empty. And scratch where it itches.”
Lesson: This sounds sort of like a kanban mentality. And its simplicity appeals to me.
The simplest solutions are often the best.

If you have comments on this blog, or other real-world examples of Murphy’s Laws, write me at a.leigh@dceo.rutgers.edu or visit us at sixsigma.rutgers.edu

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